The Foundry Company now armed, fully operational

Now that AMD and The Foundry Company are two different entities, it's time for …

Earlier this week, we covered AMD's successful splitting of itself into two separate companies. We've now got the name of that second company, and it is—wait for it— GLOBALFOUNDRIES. I guess a space, singular noun, and/or proper capitalization were just too old-fashioned for a hip, edgy, processor foundry. This is the first and last time I'll be typing the name in all capital letters and I hope to God AMD didn't actually pay anyone to come up with this name. The newly named Globalfoundries will be headed by Doug Grosse and AMD's chairman of the board and former CEO, Hector Ruiz.

There's a rather startling nugget of information in the company's press release. "Globalfoundries has taken over AMD's two semiconductor manufacturing facilities (Fab 36 and Fab 38) located in Dresden, Germany. The two plants have been renamed Fab 1 Module 1, which will initially focus on production of 45nm Silicon-on- Insulator (SOI) technology, and Fab 1 Module 2, which is currently transitioning to 32nm bulk silicon production."

Fab 1 Module 1 refers to Fab 36, AMD's four year-old manufacturing plant. F1M1 opened as a 65nm production facility but comments from AMD a year ago related to 45nm test wafer production from this foundry imply that the plant is at least partially converted to the newer process. The company's FAQ indicates that 300mm wafers and 45nm technology built in Fab 38 are being used to "augment" F1M1 production. AMD's newly converted Fab 30/38 becomes F1M2; Globalfoundries 2009 timeline states that the company will continue to build out both facilities as its first major investment.

Globalfoundries' claim that F1M2 is currently transitioning to 32nm bulk silicon at this time seems exceedingly optimistic. Last we heard, AMD expected to finish the Fab 30/38 refurbishment (300mm wafer starts, 45nm production) early in 2009. Other comments from the company suggest its 32nm transition will begin in mid-2010; it's not clear if this statement refers to bulk silicon, SOI, or both. Globalfoundries claims to be working with "early adopter" 28nm customers—if I'm not mistaken, that's the first time we've heard AMD mention that particular process.